Julius Augustus II
The successor to Pope Julius Augustus, Julius the Second was a much more expansionist minded leader than his predecessor and thus led a "Crusade" into the Saltlands to try and expand Papal control in the region, to add he was also known for having created the famous Knight Guild; Los Caballeros Santos. Along with combating Slavery, drug runners and prostitution in the lands around the Papal States. Biography Early Life Ramon Sanchez was born to Anita and Torres Sanchez in the small town of Dos Cuervos. Being born on a farm Ramon would spend the better part of his youth ripping up roots from his family's Tomato field and chasing after the local varmints to keep them away from his hard work, however when he was still just a boy his father was called up by the town Mayor to go and serve in the Papal Expedition into the Saltlands, without his father he and his mother had to work twice as hard as Ramon quickly learned how to use a plow, sow a field, dig an irrigation ditch and anything else a farmer would need to know. It would take nearly a year but his father would eventually return to the family farm, cover with scars both physical and mental, he would wake up the whole house screaming, he'd have flashbacks and he generally began to recede into himself as his feeling of alienation grew stronger. This all culminated when Torres took his own life when Ramon had just turned 15 years old. His mother was beside herself with grief and all work on the farm fell to Ramon, however he couldn't possibly run the place himself and take care of his mother, and thus he was forced to sell the farm. It was at this point that Anita suffered a mental breakdown and the local Baron had her taken into custody and sent to an asylum. Ramon, now orphaned was forced to deal with the prospect of living on the street when he was taken in by Father Alvaro Mansilla, the young head Priest of the Dos Cuervos church. Living and working within the Church gave Ramon a interest for Church work and when he was 17 he went off to join the Parish. After completing his schooling, he became the Priest of a small Church, with no ambition to go any higher but his constituents made him their Cardinal and after Pope Julius Augustus succumbed to TB he was voted in as the next Pope, taking the name Julius Augustus II. Papacy Early on in his papacy, Julius was being continually pressured to expand the reach of the Pope and expand the size of the Papal States, to compete with the Expanding English to the South and the powerful Cattlemen to the North. Thus Julius initiated the First Saltlands Crusade, declaring that it was their duty to bring God, peace and order to the pagan hordes of the Saltlands. The First Saltlands Crusade The Crusade started with the raising of the Papal Army, with around 600 armed men being sent by the various Barons and Dukes this army was then formed into companies, battalions and two separate regiments they were then sent to Fort San Pablo to stage their attack into the Saltlands. The opening of the offensive saw the two regiments break up into four separate battalions and march into tribal lands, these four columns almost immediately met resistance as the tribals, mutants, and wildlife began to attack troop movements, eventually only one of the four columns were still moving forward, however, things were to go even further South once when the second column stumbled upon an Outlaw hideout. Known as Preacher's Rock, the hideout was hidden among very hazardous, rocky hills and had only been discovered by a lost papal scout. The Comancheros, bandits, highwaymen, dinamiteros and occasionally Bandoleros that hid out there could use the area's treacherous terrain as natural defenses from any sort of posse that managed to track them there, but more often then not they were beating back attacks from the Salt mongers and local wildlife. After hearing about the hideout, Julius ordered that the hideout be razed and those outlaws that hid there to be brought back to Soto La Marina for prosecution. However, this act was easier said than done and only served to slow the advance down even further. However, when Preacher's Rock had been cleared of its villainy, it served as a useful base of operations and supply depot for the papal forces. However, any hope of making any sort of major expansion into the Saltlands was by this point lost, as the various forces of the Saltlands truly began to weigh the advance down until it was completely stopped. Losses began to pile up and Julius, with mounting pressure from his Barons, called the troops back. They arrived back home, tired and weary, defeat left Julius rather bitter that his efforts had all been for nothing. Eventually, he settled to simply have the Corp of Exploration continue its efforts to spread the Papal influence by setting up new encampments, rather than just plowing through the locals. Los Caballeros Santos The Holy Knights or The Holy Order of Knights of Soto La Marina were a monastic society set up by Pope Julius in the light of a rash of raids on caravans and farms throughout the Papal States. The Knights were meant to be a police force within the Papal States, with jurisdiction all throughout the region. They essentially were the Pope's gendarmerie and acted as such, enforcing his edicts, arresting those who defied said edicts and of course going after the various outlaws that plagued the countryside. The Holy Knights would remain a staple of the Papal authority to this day. Death Pope Julius; death would come in the year 2250, after a life of attempting to expand the Papal States and to keep his predecessor's work intact he came down with a case of Yellow Fever (common in coastal areas) and eventually died from the disease. Even on his deathbed he never quit his efforts to expand the control of the Papal States. Personality & Appearance Julius Augustus II was a rather thin man, he didn't stand too tall and was known to cover up his thin frame in layers of clothing. In terms of clothing, he is almost always seen in his papal robes and is known for being rather particular in terms of how his clothing is arranged. In terms of personality, he is a rather stingy and cold person to be around. This is on account of his determination to see his various goals met and it was this sort of determination that would eventually bring about his end as he ignored his worsening condition in order to pursue his goals and other duties as a pope. Even on the last day he was alive he still had messages run back and forth between him and his servants as he lay in bed. Quotes By About Category:Characters Category:Tamaulipas Category:Mexico Category:Deceased